Hissing Of Hisar

With the abject drubbing in by-elections in four different states, it would not be hyperbolic to say that the Congress, which is already peeved with double stings of corruption and unbridled surging prices, is on the decline. There was a strong sense of déjà vu of Congress’ defeat in Hisar, where Team Anna threw their weight behind its opponents. However, there is a need of weighing pros and cons of the poll results, Team Anna’s anti-Congress call in the run-up of by-polls must be factored in before reaching any conclusion of the hissing of Hisar. As the Congress candidate lost his security deposit, the Team Anna could claim that their effort played immense role in scripting the result of Hisar. Though the Congress may rebut it, the defeat of its candidate with erosion of 50,000 votes in comparison with 2009 must be a sore point for the party. The Congress will not attribute this defeat to Anna factor, but it would be wise for the party to get lesson from the Hisar result. Presently it is difficult to say that the Hisar result will create flutter on the national politics in the same way as the Jabalpur by-poll in 1975 and Allahabad by-election in 1987 had taken place, but the Congress should not shrug off the fact that history repeats itself.

The Congress is free to jettison the message coming out from the by-poll results, however it cannot be ignored that Central establishment is not able to control corruption and inflation. The Congress always pacifies people by saying that the government is earnest towards these issues but it does not have any magic wand, which indicates that the UPA government lacks political will-power. For the last few days, the Centre is pondering on many important issues, which are compounding the misery the country is going through. Whatever claim is made by the Congress, the Hisar result will be giving rancourous feeling to the party for long. It is crystal clear that corruption and price hike will be reverberating in the ensuing Assembly polls. It is not obvious whether the Lokpal Bill is passed in the winter session of the Parliament and what will be the stand of Team Anna, but if Anna Hazare along with his men Friday wants to keep anti-corruption move afloat, they should strengthen their strategy instead of making clamour for being the architect of Congress’ fiasco in Hisar. There is nothing wrong in making urge for punishing the Congress in Hisar, but it undercuts Anna’s claim that he has no link with any political party.